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Local History and Genealogy Resources on the Web
Durham-Specific Web Sites and Blogs
Bull City Rising Blog
Although this blog touches on all things Durham, its primary focus is covering the changes and evolution of the Bull City... the "Bull City Rising."
Digital Durham
The Digital Durham web site offers students, teachers, and researchers a wide range of sources (many primary) including letters, store ledgers, photographs, book excerpts, and more that can be used to investigate Durham’s post-bellum economic, social, cultural, and political history.
Downtown Durham, Inc.
DDI, Inc. is a 501 (c) 6 organization formed in 1993, with a mission to create an environment for private development in downtown Durham. The site leads users to services, space for sale and rent, shopping, food, and entertainment.
Durham City/County Planning Department
The Durham City-County Planning Department is the agency that develops long-range and special area plans that direct city and county growth. The site leads users to planning-related ordinances, boards and commissions, and applications and processes,
Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau
This official Durham site includes portals to other credible sites about Durham and comprehensive information for Durham visitors, newcomers, journalists, and others.
Durham: Urban Renewal’s Legacy
This site was created as a resource for all those interested in the past—as well as the future—of Durham. It includes a history of the urban renewal period as well as interesting links, documents, and maps.
Endangered Durham Blog
This blog is a treasure trove of information about land use, history, architecture, and sustainable development in Durham.
Preservation Durham
Preservation Durham's mission is to preserve the history, architecture, and cultural heritage of Durham and Durham County, and to serve as an institution for the education of citizens through the promotion and appreciation of this heritage. Find out about events, endangered properties, local and national historic districts, and more through this site.
Old West Durham Neighborhood Association
A wealth of information about the historic Old West Durham neighborhood and the broader community.
Ancestry and Heritage Quest Databases
Ancestry Library Edition
Offers over a billion names in over 3000 unique databases, including the Social Security Death Index. Available at the Main Library and branches.
Heritage Quest
A resource for census data, family records, and local history. The collection provides access to U.S. censuses through 1930, as well as a multitude of family genealogies, local histories, tax lists, city directories, land and probate records, birth, marriage, and death records, and more.
Genealogical Orgnizations - Local, State and National
Durham-Orange Genealogical Society (DOGS)
D-OGS is a nonprofit membership organization established in 1989 and dedicated to the research and preservation of family history of Durham and Orange counties, North Carolina. D-OGS publishes a monthly newsletter and a periodic journal, The Trading Path.
Federation of Genealogical Societies
FGS works to help genealogical societies strengthen and grow. To do this, FGS publishes FORUM magazine, filled with articles pertaining to society management and genealogical news, and an extensive series of Society Strategy Papers, covering topics about effectively operating a genealogical society. FGS also holds an annual conference.
North Carolina Genealogical Society
NCGS is the primary statewide genealogical society in North Carolina. The society preserves and promotes genealogical studies in the state, publishes a quarterly journal, and provides members and interested researchers with a variety of genealogical resources. Click on "local societies" in the left-hand column of the site's home page for a list of societies by county.
National Genealogical Society
NGS is the primary national organization for genealogists in America. Their main goals are to lead and educate the genealogical community in America. Their 2009 annual conference will be held May 13-16 in Raleigh, NC.
North Carolina Genealogy Sites
Cemetery Census
This site has listings of cemeteries of some NC counties, including Durham and Orange.
The Civil War Archive—Union Regiments in North Carolina
Guide to African-American Documentary Resources in North Carolina
Invaluable list of approximately 45 repositories of genealogical and historical materials on African Americans, plus a very interesting page of illustrations of African-American manuscripts and photographs.
North Carolina and the Civil War (from NC Museum of History)
This exhibit tells stories of North Carolinians who lived and served during the conflict. Special care has been taken to present the voices of the individuals, as well as the artifacts and images they left behind.
North Carolina Civil War Home Page
The purpose of this site is to create a virtual central repository for information about North Carolina in the American Civil War.
North Carolina Records: Census, Cemeteries, Land, Obituaries, Personal, Taxes and Vital Records
This section of the Cyndi’s list site provides an electronic index to all kinds of NC-related genealogical information.
NUCMC: National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections
A listing of over 5000 websites describing holdings of manuscripts, archives, rare books, historical photographs, and other primary sources for the research scholar. All links have been tested for correctness and appropriateness. For NC-specific repositories, go to Repositories of Primary Sources in North Carolina.
U.S. Military Personnel Who Died from Hostile Action (Including Missing and Captured) in the Korean War, 1950-1957
Listed by home state, then name, then place.
Service Records of Confederate Soldiers
Compiled service records of Confederate soldiers who served in organizations from various Southern states, including NC, 1861 – 1865.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial - North Carolina
Includes name, rank, branch, and city town or country.
General Genealogy Sites
AfriGeneas
AfriGeneas is a site devoted to researching African ancestry in the Americas in particular and to genealogical research and resources in general. It is also an African ancestry research community featuring the AfriGeneas mail list, the AfriGeneas message boards, and daily and weekly genealogy chats.
Christine’s Genealogy Web Site
A wealth of information and links related to African-American genealogy.
Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet
This is the most comprehensive directory of genealogy sites on the web—nearly 265,000 links.
Everton Publishers
Everton is committed to providing educational and research-oriented products, online and digital research technology, and the previously unavailable content of the vast Everton Genealogical Library.
Family Search (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)
The FamilySearchtm) Internet Genealogy Service gives you access to extensive genealogical resources gathered by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One of the best genealogical resources on the web.
Find A Grave
As the name of this site suggests, you can find names, birth dates, death dates, biographies, location of individuals, and in some cases photographs.
Genealogy.com
Focuses on genealogy software and Internet products including Family Tree Maker, the top-selling genealogy software program.
Rootsweb
The primary purpose and function of RootsWeb.com is to connect people so that they can help each other and share genealogical research.
Society Hall
Developed by Ancestry.com and the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS), Society Hall is the most comprehensive directory of genealogical and historical societies on the Web.
US GenWeb Project
The USGenWeb Project consists of a group of volunteers working together to provide Internet websites for genealogical research in every county and every state of the United States.
WorldCat
World Cat is an online catalog containing 40 million records from hundreds of libraries. It is the best source for finding published genealogies. Following are directions for finding genealogies on World Cat: If you are looking for something on the Smith family, enter "Smith family" in the Word, Phrase search field and make sure the Keyword search field remains "Subject.” If a book on your family has been published, it will probably come up in World Cat. Once you get a listing, click on one of the citations. You will see the bibliographic information, along with which libraries have the book.
Triangle-Area Libraries and Archives
North Carolina Collection, Durham County Library
Search the Durham County Library’s catalog on the web, or come in and browse the collection. Feel free to submit any questions in person, by phone (919) 560-0171, or by email lrichard@durhamcountync.gov.
Duke University Libraries
From the home page, select “Research by subject,” then ”Genealogy,” to find information about some of the library’s holdings.
Duke University Libraries - Special Collections
Strengths include nineteenth-century family histories and twentieth-century Durham African-American families.
Family History Center Libraries
This site gives the locations of the 3400 Family History Centers worldwide (including Raleigh and Chapel Hill), which are owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. These public facilities are an excellent resource for researching genealogy, as they provide access to most of the microfilms and microfiche of the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City.
North Carolina Collection, Wilson Library, UNC-Chapel Hill
Genealogy page, Local history page The North Carolina Collection has many resources and materials that will be useful to family and local historians. The Collection seeks to acquire all published family and local histories related to North Carolina, as well as published vital records. It also has materials on each of the state’s 100 counties. The Collection attempts to acquire every published regional, county, and town history for North Carolina. It also collects newspapers, architectural guides, photographs, maps, city directories and phone books, and some published government records. About 90% of the Collection’s items are in UNC’s online catalog.
North Carolina ECHO
A doorway to the special collections of North Carolina’s libraries, archives, and museums.
Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, UNC-Chapel Hill
The SHC, one of the premier manuscript collections in the South, is particularly strong in antebellum plantation records and Civil War and Reconstruction South materials. Almost all of the department’s manuscripts collections are represented in the UNC online catalog.
North Carolina State Archives
The North Carolina State Archives holds official records of state, county, and local governments and copies of federal and foreign government materials. Manuscript materials, maps, pamphlets, sound recordings, photographs, and motion picture film are also included in the collection. Many collections are searchable through the Manuscript and Archives Records System (MARS) catalog, at least to the collection and series level.
State Library of North Carolina
The home page steers you to information about NC newspapers, demographic and statistical data, government documents, serials, and more.
For specific information about genealogical research, select this link. The State Library’s genealogy collection holds extensive published materials for genealogical and historical research. The collection includes books (family histories, published abstracts, county, state, and federal records), periodicals, census indexes, and microfilms. This is the best place to start for researchers tracing North Carolina families and the states to and from which they migrated.
Other Libraries and Archives
Allen County Public Library
This renowned collection includes more than 350,000 printed volumes and 513,000 items of microfilm and microfiche. Patrons of the department also have access to major online databases. As a cooperating partner with the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, the department can provide access to more than 2.4 million rolls of microfilmed genealogical and historical records for a small handling fee per roll of film requested. The Genealogy Center is also active in several initiatives to make significant public domain portions of its collection available online.
Daughters of the American Revolution
The DAR Library is one of the nation’s premier genealogical research centers. In 1998 HeritageQuest ranked it the third most important among national institutions based on the uniqueness of its sources. The library’s book collection numbers approximately 200,000 titles.
Family History Center Libraries
This site gives the locations of the 3400 Family History Centers worldwide (including Raleigh and Chapel Hill), which are owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. These public facilities are an excellent resource for researching genealogy, providing access to most of the microfilms and microfiche of the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City.
Library of Congress
As one of the leading genealogical collections in the country, the Library has more than 50,000 genealogies and 100,000 local histories. The collections are especially strong in North American, British Isles, and German sources. The Library is also one of the few in the US that houses an outstanding royalty, nobility, and heraldry collection.
National Archives and Records Administration
The National Archives contains records from every branch of the federal government, including the census, military service and pension records ca. 1776-1900, immigration records from 1820-1957, and naturalization records. Almost all Americans can find themselves, their ancestors, or their community in the archives. Knowing how a person interacted with the government is key to a successful search.
Public Libraries in the United States
A link to public library web sites across the country.
Last Update: May 3, 2010
